Member Rating

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First Time Cruiser Jan 16-23

Sail Date:
January 2010

Destination:
Western Caribbean

Embarkation:
Galveston

We had a wonderful time. Weather was awesome only 1 rainy eve. Firstly if you are going to park at EZ cruise or one of the others, go and have a porter take your luggage. Then go park. It worked out really well that way. Embarkation was smooth we got there early as we were excited but didn't get on the boat until after 12pm. There were 2 weddings that went on board first. We went and ate then waited until 1:30 when our room was supposed to be ready. We had to wait a little longer but it was no problem. We met some ppl the first night a dining that gave us good tips. The food was good. But like other reviews the dining staff are too overworked for the area they must cover. Our room 6402 was right over the disco night club and you could hear the bass booming until 3am each night. I highly recommend a balcony room. It was wonderful to sit out there whenever you wanted to. Please be aware that the neighbors are not always polite or considerate and forget to keep their voices down.Ours More
were very noisy. Also I fail to understand why you would travel thousands of miles only to spend the day in a bar and be faced the whole time your on board or off. Our room steward was very polite and kept our room very tidy and changed. He knew our names right off the bat and called us by them whenever seeing us. Room service didn't seem to be able to get your order at the time we allotted that we wanted it. The dining room menu was usually very close to the buffet menu's. The shows were good that we saw. Definitely get to the comedy shows early. The dining staff on Lido didn't seem to be able to keep tables cleared off very well. There were always dirty dishes and glasses around. Breakfast was a hassle at times due to ppl sitting at your spot when you went to get a meal or refill. Mainly because of all the dirty dishes. No one knew what was available or not. I did like the different options for eating. 24 hr pizza was a plus. I especially liked the Bridge channel that gave updates on our location & ocean conditions ect. IF you don't want to deal with a lot of kids definitely go during school time. I don't however understand parents who feel the need to take small children on a cruise. At least have the decency to remove them from an area when they are screaming their head off & very obviously unhappy. Debarkation went pretty good also. We had zone 20. So we were later getting off. Not so much a hassle to deal. Again I recommend getting a porter to take luggage from terminal to the front. We had 6 bags. Going thru customs was a breeze. I didn't know what to expect at all. All in all we had a great time. I would go again in a heart beat. However Carnival really needs to spend a little more time in port and space the days out a bit if possible. 3 ports 3 days was very tiring. Royal Caribbean passed us several times and spent longer hours in the exact same ports. Just a final note. If the ship says be back on it at a certain time you better by damn be there by that time because they wait for no one. As some dawdling goofballs found out. Just smile & wave at them screaming on the dock from your balcony.

We did the Appleton Rum Estate. Don't waste your time. It takes way too long to get there. I would not recommend it or the Dunn's Falls at all. The 2 1/2 hr bus ride over very treacherous, children filled, busy, narrow roads is ridiculous. The trip back was very scary & I wasn't sure we were going to make it alive. Our guide kept telling us going over to get drunk and the road back would be good. I don't think there was enough alcohol on the island for that. If I had known the roads were so narrow and the trip to harrowing I would have not booked it at all. I quite frankly am surprised that Carnival and all the other cruise lines have not demanded a better road be built. You cannot tell me that all the millions of tourist dollars being brought in that roads are still an issue. Also when you stop at the rest area and are offered jerk pork or chicken check the price. We got about a 3/4 cup of bone filled pork that cost $10. It wasn't edible. I am not a picky eater by no means but it was terrible. The rum estate was interesting. Even though we had 1 person who couldn't seem to tear herself away from the bar & smoking and made us late getting back. If we go this cruise again I will get off & shop the terminal only and get back on. Jamaica is not a safe place and is constantly having unrest. Our tour guide and bus driver did a tremendous job. But never again. You waste the day on the road. A little over 50 miles and 2 1/2hr trip. NOT GOOD.

Grand Cayman is very beautiful. We tendered from the ship and it didn't take long at all coming or going. The shopping however is very expensive so save your dollars for Cozumel. The water is clean and you can see the fish swimming. We took the Best of Cayman City sights, turtle farm, Tortuga Rum cake shop, Hell & shopping excursion. If you take the late tour 11:45 make sure you eat first. The turtle farm, thanks to 2 ppl who didn't listen to the driver who stated twice how long before we left and where he would be parked our shopping got cut. We waited for them for over 30 minutes. The driver could not find them anywhere. He took us to the Tortuga place and went back to look. Still no show. 16 other people found their way to the bus just fine. We were on the later part of the tour when our driver was called & chewed out by his boss for leaving the 2 ppl. He was so upset we weren't sure he was going to be able to finish. He thought he was going to be fired. This was unprofessional on the part of the boss as far as I'm concerned. As he had already sent a car to pick up the 2 stragglers. The whole bus was in such an uproar as we all knew what happened that we signed a paper stating the facts but most of us forgot to tip him at the end. The end result I don't recommend that excursion. It was rather boring and our driver although very nice did not talk very loud and it was hard to hear him. & no I don't have a hearing problem at all. The food at the turtle farm was very expensive. $5 US for french fries. $9 for piece of pie.

Cozumel was my favorite port of all. The prices were decent. The excursion we took was good with the exception of the resort we ate lunch at didn't have a beach entry to the water. You had to climb down a ladder and it was mainly rocks. The guide said this is common for this side of the island. The food was great. Our guide was excellent and very informative. He didn't hesitate to answer any questions. The shopping was good. We found out the evening before that Cozumel is the place to shop. Jamaica the vendors are way to aggressive and Grand Cayman is way to expensive. The people on Cozumel are all there for the tourists. So they are very nice to you. They also like to dicker on the price of things. Never pay what they are asking. We visited the tequila farm and had plenty of samples. Bought several bottles and I'm not a tequila fan. The chocolate is the best. There weren't very many on our tour so we had a good time without anyone taking their time and not listening and making us late. Overall it was nice and relaxing. The shopping area at the dock is better than the one down town in my opinion. They are working on the streets and it is a traffic nightmare. Dec-Feb is high season. Our guide even stated that he didn't know why they picked that time to do it. Less

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Cabin review: Carnival Conquest Balcony Upper 6402

Our cabin was very roomy. Luggage fits nicely under the beds. Bathroom was spacious and plenty of countertop & shelves for stuff. However our room was right over the disco. Bass was BOOM Boom BOOM til 3am every night. That was my only complaint about it. Balcony was great. Noisy neighbors were only problem there. Daily announcements do not come thru in the room you have to open the door to hear it.